12th December 2021

Another very quiet period I’m afraid. Even the winter thrushes have not arrived to enliven the scene with only small flocks of Redwing so far whilst Fieldfares are virtually non-existent. I’ve never known another winter period like this.

On the brighter side a cover crop of radish in one of the large fields down Potter Lane is proving very attractive to Linnets with up to 270 birds in there. This is by far the largest count in the parish for many years and must be attracting birds in from a much wider radius than just the village. However, having followed a few people on Twitter, whilst winter cover crops are very much a positive thing the planting of crops can have unintended consequences. So, for example, radish is good for birds like Linnets that perch up on the plants but really poor for ‘walking’ birds like pipits because of the density of cover.

A walk down the river yesterday proved productive with good views (but no photo) of a huge female Peregrine sending the local Woodpigeon flocks into panic mode. Also along here, despite the high water levels, a Green Sandpiper (only my second sighting this year), Redshank and four Snipe.

On a sadder wader note I found this dead Golden Plover in the top fields last night...

It was under a telegraph wire so I assume it was an unfortunate collision having only thought about bird flu after I got back home (probably just as well I was wearing gloves).

The weather has not been conducive to a lunchtime walk recently but one sunny spell allowed me to have my lunch sitting in the village churchyard. I wasn’t the only one…

The only other sightings of note were an excellent flock of 32 Long-tailed Tits in our garden and a Grey Wagtail in the Magic Garden…

14th November 2021

I thought I had better post something just so people know I’m still alive! It has been an exceptionally quiet period even by the standards of Ainderby! The mild weather seems to have slowed the arrival of typical winter visitors and I didn’t see any winter thrushes until a heavy movement on 4^th November with large groups of Redwing, and smaller numbers of Fieldfare, moving west over the village. That’s the first year I can remember I haven’t seen either Redwing or Fieldfare in October. Numbers remain low though, with no more than a dozen of each seen around the village yesterday.

As if to emphasise these strange times I had both Corn Bunting and Linnet in full song yesterday, wasps and bees still buzzing around a field of ‘green manure’ (wild radish and phacelia) plus, in the garden, a strawberry and a good crop of tomatoes off the outdoor plants!

Along the Swale yesterday it remained quiet but I had Kingfisher, two Buzzard, four Little Egrets, Goosander, Little Grebe and Grey Wagtail…

…A flock of 75 Linnets and 20+ Yellowhammers…

And also this Kestrel which I saw catch a vole and then devour it...

But Rachel had the best sighting this week - excellent views of an Otter including it running along the riverbank (at midday!)

Other sightings since I last wrote included a group of five Whooper Swans over,  a flock of 147 Curlew and 57 Golden Plover in the stubbles on Ladyfield Farm and, unusually, Chris put up more than 60 Canada Geese from the river.

We also managed one final moth trapping session in late October and caught two of my target species, the beautiful Merveille du Jour. Truly a ‘wonder of the day’!

26th September 2021

A few more signs of autumn with a couple of skeins of Pinkfeet passing over the parish, 25 over Ainderby itself and more than 50 over Thrintoft. This was part of an exceptionally heavy movement through Yorkshire on Thursday.

The first Meadow Pipits have been back in the village for a week or more...

and there was a small movement of Teal along the river with five also seen on the Magic Garden pond. Surprisingly the first I’ve seen here.

A pair of Grey Wagtail were on the river, the first since early spring, and, after an exceptionally poor year for them, Kingfishers are being regularly seen again on the Swale. Blackcap still calling this morning and still numbers of Chiffchaffs about (including singing birds) but no other migrants seen.

John set up a couple of moth traps in The Hall last night, catching 129 moths of 20 species which is not too bad for the time of year. These included one new moth for Ainderby – Large Wainscot…

And two species that were only the second records for the village, Blair’s Shoulder Knot and this Brick…

The catch also included both Hawthorn and Birch Shieldbugs, the latter a new species for the parish.

Talking of shieldbugs, this little creature is a nymph of Pied Shieldbug which I found on Red Deadnettle on the path to Thrintoft.

This is a largely southern species but is another one which seems to be moving north. This represented  the most northerly Yorkshire record to date.

12th September 2021

Another rather quiet week bird wise with one exception; Chris photographed what seems to be a small flock of Grey Plover flying south over the river. I’m just waiting to see the actual images but this would be unprecedented (although surprisingly this wouldn’t be a new species for the parish as I had a single fly-over bird more than a decade ago).

Otherwise signs of departure with more than 100 Swallows gathering on the top wires and around the house on the ridge…

I assume the birds in the second picture (part of a group of over 20) are sunning themselves?

Walking along the river yesterday I had only my second sighting of Kingfisher this year plus a Snipe, four Little Egret and six Goosander.

A small movement of Jays over was noticeable and seems to be an increasingly regular feature of autumn now.

This lovely patch of ivy in the village was absolutely alive with insects this morning,

there can’t have been less than 500 bees/wasps/flies on here, a fantastic sight and sound.

The hoverflies here included Common Flower Fly (Syrphus ribesii)…

And Death’s Head Fly (myathropa florea)

Named for a supposed similarity of some of its markings to a skull.

I’ll finish with this huge, and rather splendid, fungus, the Giant Polypore…

5th September 2021

I’ll start with this picture from last weekend, a Little Egret perching ahead of a storm, just because I like it! Seeing them against the corvids really shows how small they are…

I photographed the same tree yesterday and it still had plenty of crows…

but this time their focus was a buzzard. I thought they were preparing to mob it but it seems they were just after the offcuts!

Migration doesn’t feel as though it has got into full swing yet but there were one or two decent sightings since I last wrote. On the wader front I had Whimbrel flying over the Swale and Andy heard a Greenshank calling as it followed the course of the river. Curlew numbers are also starting to rise and John and Anne had more than fifty birds in one of their meadows on Langlands.

Andy had a Hobby last week and Chris was lucky enough to spot a Red Kite over Warbler Corner this morning. It’s perhaps surprising, given the growing population not that far to the south of us , that this is only the second record for the year (less surprising that I have missed them both!)

Chris also found, and photographed, this young Redstart on the path to Thrintoft this morning. 

That stretch of fence and bushes seems to be the place for migrant chats…

Lots of phylloscs on the move during the week and I had double figure counts of both Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers in the Magic Garden…

Along with at least one Sedge Warbler (depressingly my first of the year).

It has also been a relatively good week for dragonflies with Brown and Southern Hawker in the Magic Garden along with at least half a dozen  Migrant Hawkers…

And I also had at least ten Common Darters, making the most of the sun…

It seems to be a particularly good second period for Speckled Woods this year and I had 40-45 in the Magic Garden this morning. For some reason they really dislike Migrant Hawkers!

Finally, at one site along the river the farmer has put up a single strand wire fence, to stop the cows swimming across the river to eat the willows and Giant Hogweed(!), but this protection from grazing has meant the plants have had a chance to grow. There are no rarities here but compared with the usual bankside vegetation of a few nettle and thistles it is much more interesting. Amongst the plants were Common Restharrow , masses of Tansy, Water Forget-me-Not…

...Marsh Woundwort, Amphibious Bistort, Goldenrod, Yellow Loosestrife and Soapwort. This is the only place I have seen the latter two species in the parish. It feels quite heartening that a small change in management can have this effect. 

15th August 2021

No blog for the last couple of weeks as we have been on holiday in Shetland so I thought I would share one or two sightings from this wonderful place. We stayed again in the Taing, on the west side of Shetland, where the cottage is almost on the beach. This meant sightings of Otter from the living room and birds like this in, or from, the garden…

Red-throated Diver

Arctic Skua

Twite

Despite it being a far from ideal time for scarce birds I found Black Tern, a Shetland rarity, and also saw Bonaparte’s Gull…

A beautiful Long-tailed Skua…

And an albino(?) Great Northern Diver…

But undoubted pick of the birds was a Black-winged Pratincole, only my second British sighting. We had booked the ferry for Fetlar before the news came through of its discovery so the birding gods were smiling on us and whilst waiting for the boat we had Otter running around the wharfes.

The bird showed exceptionally well, hawking for insects literally above our heads, so it’s a little disappointing this is the best I managed!!

But just to show what an amazing place Shetland is this wasn’t the best species of the day! As we enjoyed an ice cream in the sunshine the news came through that a Fin Whale had been seen from the Fetlar ferry. It was reported moving south out of Bluemell Sound. We headed off to that end of the island and spent a fruitless 20 minutes looking for it.

As we were quite near the terminal we decided to take the next ferry back rather than our booked one. We were scanning half heartedly as we sailed back when I spotted it! An impressive blow and then a great rolling back. It was huge!  Only the Blue Whale is bigger.

We then watched it moving across the sound and then turning back north. Thanks to my daughter’s excited squeal every time it reappeared everyone on the ferry was alerted and managed to see it. This was one of four species of cetacean we saw on this holiday.

We also went on a boat trip to Noss, third largest sea cliffs in Britain and home to a large Gannet colony. We had the stunning spectacle of 100s of birds diving for fish within inches of the boat

Add in a couple of new plants - the lovely, and scarce, Oysterplant…

And a target for this holiday, Bog Orchid…

Despite having a very precise grid ref. and supposedly 300 plants at the site, it took the two of us an hour to find this single tiny flower but well worth it!

Needless to say we will be back…   

25th July 2021

Well after managing to stay free of covid for so long it finally arrived in the house (unsurprising given the free for all which seems to be government policy now) and the consequent extended period of self isolation was not conducive to great discoveries in nature but I did see my first Ruby-tailed Wasp in the garden plus this rather handsome leafcutter bee, Megachile centuncularis…

My release coincided with John setting a moth trap in the village. A fantastic catch with 531 moths of 90 species which must be the highest single-trap catch we have ever had in Ainderby. This included three new species for the parish: Gold-ribbon Argent, Double-striped Tabby and this Chequered Pearl…

This is a really scarce moth in VC65 (North-west Yorkshire) and was a new species even for John.

Always nice too to get your first Garden Tiger of the year…

And Ruby Tiger…

Later that day we went down the river at Morton bridge to try out two pheromone lures. This targeted two species associated with willows and there are a couple of good patches of them here. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen but within five minutes of putting the lure up a cracking Lunar Hornet moth flew in! Looking, and sounding, just like a very large wasp it was surprisingly disconcerting even when you knew it was a moth. Unfortunately it was extremely difficult to photograph so my only image is through a dirty pot lid which hardly does it justice…

The second target was Red-tipped Clearwing and two of these striking little moths also responded immediately to the lure...

A magic half hour.

11th July 2021

Another largely birdless week but John bought two moths trap over on Friday evening for an excellent catch. One was in our neighbours’ Tom and Kirsty’s garden and one up at Ladyfield. We recorded 449 moths of 101 species. This included six new species for the parish: Marbled Beauty, House Groundling, Yellow-oak Button and (four)  Beautiful Hook-tip…

This used to be very much a southern species but is another one that has been moving progressively further north and Alan Miller caught his first in his garden in Northallerton on the same night.

The other newbies included Bordered White…

And this micro, White-backed Marble…

This is a scarce moth in this area and was actually a new species even for John.

We also caught only the second parish record of Tawny-barred Angle

Some commoner, but stunning, others included Antler...

 

And Buff Arches...

To finish off I also had a Hummingbird Hawkmoth in our garden this week feeding, as always, on Red Valerian.